Environment: Business interests clash with caribou survival

As conservation efforts for the province’s southern mountain mammal gathers steam, heli-skiing and forestry are just two of the industries feeling the squeeze

Ross Cloutier wants to help save B.C.’ssouthern mountaincaribou—but not at any cost.Renewed efforts to protect thethreatened animals could hit his$150-million industry hard, saysthe executive director of HelicatCanada, which represents thecountry’s heli-skiing and catskiingoperators.

“Things are happening veryfast right now, and we havesome real concerns that decisionsare being made basedmore on opinion than science,”explains Kamloops-basedCloutier, whose group’s membersinclude 30 companies inB.C. “I think all sectors have apart to play in mountain caribou,and our industry is definitelywilling to be a partner.”

There’s no time to waste.Last May, federal Minister ofEnvironment and ClimateChange Catherine McKennaput B.C. on notice: do more tosave the mountain caribou, orOttawa will use the Species atRisk Act to impose conservationmeasures. Cloutier hasbeen lobbying on Helicat’sbehalf as the provincial governmentscrambles to reach abilateral conservation dealwith the feds.

In most areas south ofPrince George, though, themountain caribou continuea slide toward extirpation,when a species ceases to existin a geographic area of study.The South Selkirks herd hasdwindled to just three, not anecologically viable populationby any measure.

“This is an importantspecies to the federal government,”says Robert Serrouya,a University of Alberta biologistwho has researched largemammal ecology for twodecades and directs theCaribou Monitoring Unit, agroup of scientists organizedby the Alberta BiodiversityMonitoring Institute to supportcaribou recovery in Canada.“It’s a very complex conservation problem.”

In winter, woodland caribousurvive almost entirely onboreal lichen found only inold-growth forests. Loss of thishabitat thanks to logging andother resource industries islargely responsible for the animal’sdecline.

However, climate changeand degradation of this criticalcaribou habitat have resulted ina cascade of other factors thathas upset the natural wildlifebalance in some areas, leavingthe remaining caribou highlyvulnerable to predators. Logginggives rise to growth ofyoung trees and underbrushthat attracts large numbersof other ungulates like whitetaileddeer, which in turn lurewolves, cougars and bearsinto caribou country.

Commercial powder skiingisn’t the only concerned sector.The Council of Forest Industries(COFI) has warned thefederal and provincial governmentsagainst any new caribouconservation agreement thatfocuses too heavily on habitatprotection.

“Management of the cariboufile is extremely complex,and we believe that a multi-prongedapproach to recoverywill be required, not justhabitat protection,” says MinaLaudan, COFI’s vice-president, public affairs. “Climate changeis affecting southern mountaincaribou habitat, causing habitatto grow in some areas anddisappear in others, and itsimpacts must be incorporatedinto all plans and actions,”Laudan adds. “Many other factorscontribute to the decliningcaribou population, includingpredators, severe wildfire seasonsand pest infestations.”

David Karn, a spokesmanfor the B.C. Ministry of Environmentand Climate Change, saysthe conservation agreement remainsa work in progress, withthe aim of developing “meaningfulstrategies for addressingcaribou recovery” while “minimizingimplications to variousindustry sectors that operate incaribou habitat.”

But that’s easier said thandone. B.C. and Ottawa havediffering views on the extentof critical caribou habitat.Also, the 2017 Canada–BritishColumbia Southern MountainCaribou Protection Study presentsa sobering picture of theconservation efforts’ economicimpact, which could exceed$20 billion to the resources sector.The study acknowledges aswell that “to date, no jurisdictionhas implemented a programthat has demonstratedsustained success at recovery ofcaribou at a landscape scale.”

Mountain caribou expertslike Robert Serrouya knowthere’s no quick fix. Habitatprotection is important,but it’s not the only factor.Caribou have disappearedfrom Banff National Park eventhough it’s been federally protectedsince 1885.

“I can support the messyshort-term business of predatorreduction, but only if habitatprotection is also part of thesolution,” Serrouya says.